No court approval, no call interception- Lawyers charge Gov't

07/03/2016

Tell your friends

The bill, which has been in parliament for some time, was withdrawn last week after series of protests against its intent and purposes.

Lawyer and campaigner against government’s ‘Spy Bill’, Lawyer Samson Ayenini insists that the National Communications authority or any governmental organisation for that matter, must seek a court approval before intercepting communications of individuals.

The ‘Spy Bill’ also known as the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages Bill, seeks to grant the NCA the power to intercept communications through telecom services or post, for the purposes of national security investigations.

One of such campaigners, Lawyer Samson Ayenini, maintains that government must reconsider the bill in its entirety before taking it back to parliament to be approved.

“My demand, which I believe is a demand that other people subscribe to, in short was that ‘No Court, No interception,’ says Mr Anyenini.

The “Spy Bill” as it is called, when passed will grant access to security agencies to listen in on private conversations of Ghanaians with the intention of safeguarding the security of the State and fighting crime.

However, campaigners against the proposed law say there are several existing laws that can help with fighting crime”, he said on his News File Program on Saturday.

Other anti-Spy Bill campaigners have also said key provisions in the bill, particularly clause 4(3) and (4) of the Bill, which allows the National Security Coordinator to verbally authorize interceptions for 48 hours without any court order or warrant, should be removed from the current bill.